Berminghammer was contacted by Kiewit for the rapid deployment of five vertical travel systems to Louisiana for the purpose of driving 90’ (27.5m) long 18” (457mm) square concrete piles. Berminghammer worked with Kiewit to immediately retrofit their existing BL37 leads for use on a Liebherr 1300 crane so that they could rapidly deploy for the test pile program. Successful at that stage, Berminghammer then designed a brand new BL42 Vertical Travel Lead (VTL) section with high capacity pinned joints to be used for the next three systems. The lead incorporated Berminghammer’s industry proven hydraulic swing away gates; one at the base of the lead and the other at the midpoint. The gates swing away to allow the hammer to pass through them as the pile is being driven. Also custom to the project was a ‘Hammer Cat‘ to allow for the hammer to become decoupled from the tool line and follow the rapidly advancing piles through the soft soils of the area. Berminghammer then retrofit another set of Kiewit owned BL37 leads to further augment pile installation rates. Kiewit obliterated production rates with five VTL systems running full time in addition to regular maintenance being done at night. One crew installed twenty 90’ (27.5m) long piles in one day! Berminghammer would like to thank Kiewit for their partnership on this project and look forward to future work in the area.